"Rei, Rei, Rei! Aren't you listening? You're too short to climb up that tree you'll get stuck and then your mom and dad will be mad at you."
"No they won't Jade! Anyways, it's not too hard, you did it after all and I'm much better than you." She stuck out her tongue and continued to scoot her way up to the nearest branch.
"I'm not coming to get you if you get stuck!" he hollered to her.
"I don't need you to anyways! I'm a big girl; I don't see why mommy wants me to play with you anyways."
He looked down at his feet and shuffled them while muttering "Yeah, I don't really see why I should hang out with a kid like you either, little runt."
"Hey! I'm only four years younger than you! And only three for most of the winter!"
"Yeah, yeah, whatever…" He looked up from his position, staring at the tree; he saw her little figure perched near the highest branch of the tree. Her little limbs clinging to the rough bark. "Rei! Don't go up that high, you won't be able to come down afterwards!"
"It's okay Jade, I've got great balance, and papa even says so when I'm at dance." She closed her eyes shut and swung her leg over the thick arm of the branch. Not afraid of anything…
"Wow! Jade, you've got to come up and see this. I can see your house! And there's your school, and hey! I think I see Mr. Takashi coming home from grocery shopping."
"No way! Alright, I'm coming up"
He took less than half the time the five year old to get up the tree. With the upper body strength and the height that would help him greatly.
"Wow, Rei, this is really cool I can see the mountains!" he shouted and pointed towards the blue outline of the natural formations. The sun set slowly and a beautiful red fog encased the distant scenery.
She beamed, even if they did bicker, she always wanted the approval of her playmate. He was just like a big brother to her.
"Look! Grandpa lives there! He's so nice; I think Momma's going to take me there next week. Papa's going out of town for a few days. He says he has to work." She looked sullen for a few minutes before she looked back up at her playmate.
"You'll come visit won't you?" He looked at her shining wine colored eyes, not wanting to disappoint. It looked like she would cry if he said he couldn't.
"Sure, I think my mom is going to go to take me there when during the summer, she owes me a trip before school starts after all."
"Good, I don't think I'd have any fun if I didn't have someone to beat every day. Race you down the tree!" She announced as she crawled past him and towards the trunk of the tree.
"Whatever runt" He looked off to the west and saw the setting sun and the disappearing red shimmer of light.
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